Iowa yawns at Cain flap

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — While Herman Cain struggled for a second day in Washington to push back against sexual harassment allegations, the high political drama almost went unmentioned Tuesday in one of the most important courts of public opinion — Iowa.

On the campaign trail, on local conservative talk radio and in conversations among activists, Republicans here have so far greeted the story with a shrug.

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The reactions from Cain’s GOP rivals have been muted: His fellow 2012 candidates continue to tread lightly around the report that the likable front-runner reached settlements with two female employees while he was CEO of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

“This is the year when we can’t settle,” Bachmann said. “This is the year when we can’t have any surprises with our candidate. We have to have a candidate that we can know when we put them into office we can trust them with their record of what they have done and who they are. I have that record. And I have stood and I have stood strong on those issues.”

“We all have issues that we have to deal with on the campaign, and Herman’s dealing with the issue here,” Santorum said. “Look, I’m doing town hall meetings in little towns all throughout Iowa, and I’ll be honest about it, no one has asked me about it. I’ve gotten questions on the same issues I’ve gotten questions about before the story.”

Still, Santorum said the report is something Cain must address.

“That’s an issue for Herman, and he’s got to work it out. Having been through the crucible before, it’s not an easy thing to do,” he said. “It’s not my issue, it’s his issue, and he’s got to deal with it.”

For now, Iowa continues to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Speaking after a manufacturing forum in Pella Tuesday — during which Cain’s name was not mentioned — Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said he didn’t expect the harassment story to impact Cain here.

“Iowans are pretty fair-minded people,” said Branstad, after a forum that featured five presidential candidates. “Just because somebody makes an accusation — anybody that’s in a high-profile position has the potential to have people make these kinds of accusations, and I think Iowans will, you know, carefully look at the real situation and not jump to any conclusions.”

On the leading conservative talk radio program in Des Moines, the story barely merited a mention Tuesday.

Simon Conway, a conservative afternoon drive-time host on WHO-AM who on Monday offered Cain a soft place to rebut the story without pressing him on its details, didn’t give the Cain story any attention during the first two hours of his Tuesday show — which addressed the Occupy Wall Street movement, student loans and Branstad’s proposed education reforms.